If you’re not a member of Webcomics.com, you might wonder about what goes on behind the “paywall.” Here’s a list of topics from last month — both from the site and from the private forum — to give you an idea of what Webcomics.com is like every day.

If you’re curious about joining, we’ve made it easier than ever with a $5 trial membership. You’ll get full access to the site for thirty days so you can see what you’ve been missing. At the end of the trial, you can choose to re-subscribe ($30 for 12 months of access) or walk away with no strings attached. You will not be re-billed unless you choose to subscribe.

Please note: The links below will lead you to content that is “subscription-only” content. Why do I do this? Simple. If you see something that intrigues you and decide to subscribe, you can come back here and use this post to jump right to the post that caught your attention. And once you do that, use the other Best Of posts to drill even deeper into the site!

Best of the site

Facebook’s “crackdown” on promotion …wasn’t really as dire as many webcartoons were making it out to be. This post helped separate fact from fiction, and it provided some thoughts on how to navigate the minor change for the few people who were affected by it.

Word Balloons: Timing is Everything: Timing is vital to good writing — and crucial to comedy. This post demonstrated some simple techniques you’re probably ignoring that will make you a master of precision timing.

VAT MOSS: If you think this doesn’t affect you because you don’t live in Europe, you’re wrong. Here’s a quick primer on the new European tax that changes how downloads are sold to people living in the European Union — even if it’s being sold by a company in the USA.

When is it Time to Advertise? It’s one of the most common questions in webcomics. Here’s how to tell when the time is right for you.

“I Don’t Get It” — Risk and Reward: No one likes to read an “I Don’t Get It” under the comments to their comics, but let’s take the sting out. A comment like that is an indication that you took a risk and fell short of the mark (for at least one reader). But without risk, there’s no reward. This post helps you process that feedback in a more helpful, positive way… making your writing better in the process.

Mailbag: Selling Your Buffer: Most of us agree that a strong buffer is a must-have for a dedicated webcartoonist. But can you sell your buffer? You can. And this post shows you how.

When the SoakSoak virus hit WordPress, there was a lot of confusion. This post provided a clear explanation of what was at stake (and what wasn’t). And it provided easy steps to follow if you were, in fact, hit by the virus.

Planning 2015: Good planning is a key to success. This post acts as a good start.

Mailbag: How To Convert a Reader from Free to Patreon: If you’re thinking that way, you’re thinking wrong. This post tackles the question head-on and shows you a more efficient way to parse the situation.

Webcomics Weekly KS-4: As usual, when a new Webcomics Weekly podcast gets uploaded, Webcomics.com readers get access to t 24 hours before it goes public. This was the final episode promised during the Kickstarter campaign for The Webcomics Handbook, my follow-up to How To Make Webcomics.

Before you “Leverage Browser Caching” Read This: I made a doozy of a mistake so you don’t have to!

Sherpa Safari Part Three: Member Jules Faulkner (creator of Promises, Promises) updates her series on the inner workings for this GoComics/Universal/Uclick comics aggregator.

Comicraft’s New Year’s Day sale. As always, we gave you a heads-up on saving potentially hundreds of dollars on new comics-lettering fonts.

Prepping for the Q1 crash: Did your ad revenue crash and burn this week? This post prepared readers for the crash and gave them strategies for riding out the storm.

Finally, we finished up our last Hot Seat critique series of the year.

Best of the Private Forum

We don’t promote the private forum enough, here are Webcomics.com. It’s really a tremendous resource. Not only can you bounce ideas off other professionally-minded working cartoonists, but you can share thoughts that you wouldn’t want to put on a public messageboard. This is the place to discuss strategies of dealing with an inappropriate commenter — or to vet a business deal that you’ve been negotiating. Got a tech nightmare? I guarantee you that one of our members has been there and dreaded that. Here’s some highlights from last month.

Comics Rocket: Should I allow them to run my comics?

Con Report: Supanova 2014

Where to advertise my comic?

No reader energy: How do I instill a little excitement?

Tip: The end-of-the-year Best-Of List: It’s a great way to use your old material for new content — and promote new merchandise and projects all at the same time.

LINE toons: We take a look a the newest webcomics contest. Is it worth your time?

Sponsorship: I have a business offering to sponsor my comic. What should my price be? What should the contract include?

What Do You Sell at Cons?

When’s the Best Time to Launch a Patreon?

Do I Need a Buffer?

Switching Hosting: I keep experiencing service outages, but the price is right. Do I need to switch or is it typical to experience a few outages from time to time?